Near Death
by Wishing-for-a-Zoro-plushie
Summary: OPU Genfic Zoro-Sanji-Luffy friendship stuff. LONG one-shot. When they last saw him, he was near death. His body and spirit broken, and his almost lifeless form popped away in an instant. How could they have not worried? Rated 'T' for swearing.


_A/N: Oh my gosh. So I actually wrote something within like... a week or two? Wow. Okay, so, for the 'We're Back' fic, _**Santoryuu-Zoro** _reviewed that she would like a more angstier zoro-crew reunion fic. This isn't exactly... 'angstier' per se, but it centers around Zoro, Sanji and Luffy and offers up strong friendship between them and _some _angst. PLUS A RANDOM FLASHBACK! HAW HAW! *shot*_ _Enjoy! Also, please ignore spelling/grammar problems due to lack of enthusiasm towards proof-reading. This really is just hot off the press.  
Edit: hates me and won't keep the underline on the title. What the hell? _

**Pairing: **_Gen**  
**_**Rating: **_T for swearing_**  
Disclaimer: **_I don't own One Piece and never will claim to._

_**Near Death**_

The general adrenaline rush of sailing away from an island in uproar had finally ebbed away from the Mugiwara crew and they were now all left sitting quietly upon the deck. Zoro was leaning against the mast, his arms crossed behind his head and his chest rising steadily as he slept there. Brook and Franky were exchanging songs they had written while they had been away. Usopp and Chopper were drawing together, talking about their adventures. Robin and Nami were having a cup of coffee together, giggling about their new hairstyles and clothing tastes which left Luffy and Sanji sitting on the deck. The chef was enjoying a smoke, breathing the thin stream into the air and waiting for his ladies to call him so he could do their bidding. He had missed them very much along with his beloved kitchen. It had nearly brought tears to his eyes to walk into that place and see everything just as it used to be. Some things should never be changed, and his kitchen was one of them. Luffy plucked idly at the grass, ruffling his hands through it and obviously deep in thought.

"Ne, Sanji?" the captain began and the chef glanced at him from the corner of his eye. When the kid didn't continue, the blonde shrugged slightly, taking another drag on his cigarette and once again blowing the smoke into the air in a long, thin stream.

"Yeah?" he finally urged and Luffy frowned a little. His dark eyes drifted up, their gaze locking onto the sleeping swordsman's body.

"... Nothing." he said as he smiled widely and shook his head a little, "Don't worry about it." Sanji didn't question him any further on it. They'd all just gotten back together and everyone was tired and just wanting to relax and enjoy their surroundings peacefully for a while before heading for their next adventure. Even Luffy seemed a little more down to Earth than usual. Then again, they'd all aged two years so maybe patience had set in? Who knew. Shrugging, the blonde just got up to respond to Nami's call for him to please get her another coffee, which he did so as quickly as humanly possible and faster. Dinner that night was a peaceful, comfortable event and the crew decided that hitting the sack early would be a good idea.

Tomorrow they would be setting out on their journey to the Fishman island and some rest would do them all the world of good. That night in the men's cabin though, the boys hardly slept. Chopper drifted off almost instantly, Usopp instead staying up and sitting in the couches in the middle of the room, enjoying talking to the other boys again. Zoro was, amazingly enough, awake for a fair while before he got to his feet and moved to his old bunk, dropping into it and passing out almost instantly after placing his swords carefully beside him in their old place. Usopp excused himself not long after, Franky and Brook also retiring right behind him. This once again left Luffy and Sanji sitting in the couches, alone with each other. The two seemed to stare at nothing in particular for a long time, the snores of their crewmembers making them chuckle on occasion before finally Luffy spoke up.

"I was worried." he mumbled, bringing his knees up and hugging them tight to himself, resting his chin on top of them, "About Zoro. I shouldn't have been, but when he was sent away so close to death... closer than I'd ever seen him during the whole journey we've had..." Sanji frowned a little, his tongue rolling a little against the corner of his mouth out of the habit of rolling a cigarette around from there. He was allowed to smoke in here but out of courtesy for his non-smoking comrades, he didn't choose to.

"Yeah..." Sanji sighed, reaching a hand up to run through his longer hair, "To be honest I don't think anyone expected to see him again, but we all hoped, ne?" Luffy smiled a little.

"He was so... close to death." the captain repeated, his small falling as quickly as it had appeared, "I wonder where he went... someone would've had to have saved him. He couldn't move, he'd given everything he had."

"I think if he had tried to give any more, he would've broke into nothing..." Sanji muttered, frowning at the floor and crossing his arms, "Stupid marimo."

"... Sanji was worried too, ne? You were looking for him when you got to the island, ne?" Luffy grinned a little, "He's your friend." The chef shot the other man a deep glare, his eyes narrowing for a moment before he sighed and shook his head, blonde hair shifting with the movement.

"I thought he was dead, y'know?" he finally confessed after a while of silence, "I didn't think there was _any _way he could've survived that. He'd bled so much, _given_so much... for us. I couldn't protect him... not like he'd protected us. Protected me..." Luffy's eyes were locked on the blonde, his expression unreadable as he listened to his nakama talk. During his time away, the Captain had had a lot of time to sit and think about his comrades, their adventures, the things he hadn't fully understood when he'd been younger. He'd celebrated their birthdays on his own in the wilderness and on his own birthday had felt overwhelming joy filling him, meaning he was sure his friends were thinking of him just as much at that time. The other thing he'd figured out, was what had happened at Thriller Bark. There was only one thing that could've happened.

None of the crew knew anything, aside from Sanji, but everytime Luffy had cornered him to question him about it, the chef had just shrugged and said it wasn't his place to say anything. Zoro had been so hurt that time... nearly broken. Rayleigh had organised the mail service to drop Luffy a paper everyday, and he'd read about that big fat guy's promotion to be a marine. He'd read about the Pacifistas, the PX's. Kuma. He'd pieced bits and pieces from those stories of justice and the rumours of his death. Along the way, it had clicked to him. Kuma. The big bear guy, had come to that island. His crew, they'd all been smashed down. Sanji knew because he'd been there with Zoro, and from what the blonde had just said, the swordsman must have knocked him down and protected him too.

The loyalty and ferocity of the first mate of the Mugiwara Kaizokudan, was not to be underestimated. Luffy was glad he'd made the right choice in choosing that man to be a part of his crew. Zoro had protected them all from Kuma. The only blank piece of the puzzle he had now, was what exactly had Zoro done? He hadn't fought him. If he had, Zoro would've either died or been captured along with the rest of them. They just hadn't been strong enough to face that guy, even _if _Luffy had been capable of fighting. So that left negotiation. For what though? Well, the biggest and most valuable bounty was himself, so what if Zoro had done something crazy? What if he'd made a deal with the guy to take his own head instead of Luffy's? That was something the captain could see his green haired muscle-brained friend doing.

So why hadn't Kuma just taken Zoro away then?

Well, Luffy's reasoning for that was that Kuma, the original guy, hadn't been that bad. To send them away from each other like that, had been the best possible thing that guy could've ever done. It had seemed cruel and heartless, but when Luffy thought about it, there was nothing better that could've happened to them all. So a deal had to have been made between the two. Maybe Kuma had decided that Zoro's head would indeed be traded for Luffy's, but not yet? Not when Zoro's bounty wasn't the same amount or maybe the stupid guy had deemed the swordsman to not be strong enough to take Luffy's place. Which was complete bullshit, Luffy had the utmost pride in all of his crew, all of them could take him on but Zoro had the highest chances of winning against him. If something was in that man's way, and he wanted it removed, Zoro _would _remove it.

So that was the last piece of the puzzle that he couldn't get to fit yet. It was a hard one, and one that only Zoro or Sanji could fill for him. Robin also seemed to know something but she was too mysterious for Luffy to even attempt asking. Besides that, Luffy had no plans of asking anyone what had happened, just yet. Even though it had been two years, he didn't really want to bring up old memories. This was fine, this was stuff that had been on his mind the whole time he was away but to dredge up bad memories for Zoro especially, would be something that Luffy just didn't want to do. Not now.

"I thought he was dead, too." Luffy admitted finally, frowning at nothing in particular, "I wonder what happened to his eye. He's really quiet, too. More so than usual."

"I think we're all quiet today, Luffy. It's a big shock to see each other again, a good one, but we've all travelled and had a long two years." Sanji chuckled softly before frowning a little, "But I wonder too. About his eye, y'know? Can he open it? See out of it? I don't think so... but then again he never really used his eyes to fight so I don't think it's affecting him at all. If anything it'll make the bastard ten times cockier." Luffy had to grin at that, a soft 'shishi' of agreement making it's way from between his lips.

"Yeah, I think you're right about that." he admitted, "Silly Zoro." The two sat in silence for a long, long time after their little talk until finally Luffy got to his feet and moved for his bunk. Sanji smiled a little and got up as well, stretching his lithe body out and then making his way towards the bed as well. They said their goodnights and within mere moments, were out to the world, peacefully sleeping, safe amongst their nakama. Little did they know, though, that Zoro's un-scarred eye was cracked open and his ears were pricked as he'd listened to their conversation.

Unable to sleep after he had dropped to his bunk, he'd feigned it and then just kinda lay there. He hadn't meant to eavesdrop or anything, that just wasn't his style, but when he'd heard the mention of his name and the two talk about him, he couldn't help his curiosity even though he was pretty sure he knew what they were going to speak about anyway. He had been right, of course. Closing his eye, Zoro let out a soft sigh.

The next morning brought calm winds once again and a clear sky. The crew slept in, the only exception being Sanji who got up at a reasonable time to cook breakfast. Nami wasn't far behind him, followed by Chopper, Usopp and Brook. Franky and Robin were next and soon after came Luffy, bounding down the stairs and hopping his way into the kitchen with nothing short of pure and utter delight. He'd missed his chef's cooking something fierce. Zoro didn't make an appearance. The food was served out in the usual, old ritual of ladies first and then shit heads could dive in, but still Zoro didn't show up and Sanji frowned before sighing heavily and moving from the room to go and kick the bastard awake. After everything, he wasn't going to freakin' let the bastard miss out on food _now_. The chef knocked on the door to the men's cabins a few times and then opened it when he got no response.

"Oi, marimo the food's... rea... dy?" Sanji paused and looked around the room when there was no sign of the green haired bastard there at all, "Zoro...?" Maybe he was up meditating somewhere? In the training room perhaps? Sanji's heart, despite itself, began to beat a little harder. What if the marimo had never been here? That had all been just a dream? What if Zoro really had died? No. He had no doubts that yesterday, all of it, had really happened and the marimo had been involved in it just as strongly as he himself had. Closing the door, Sanji frowned a little and placed his hands on his hips.

"Marimo!" He called, frowning a little when he received no trademark answer, "OI! Zoro you fucktard, where the hell did you go!" Luffy poked his head from the kitchen, a sandwich held between his teeth.

"Ouf cmf fmf hmf?" he mumbled and Sanji's eyebrow twitched a little.

"Put that in your mouth, chew it, swallow it and _then_speak to me, idiot!" the chef growled, eye narrowing at the little brat. Luffy stared at him perfectly innocently before swallowing the sandwich basically whole and grinning widely.

"I asked if you can't find him." he stated with a nod, a rubber arm reaching back into the room to grab another sandwich, "ZORO! WHERE ARE YOU!" The sudden bellow made the blonde man cringe ever so slightly and stick a finger in his ear to try and relieve the ringing. Damn that kid had a voice. Still there was no response and a worried line creased Luffy's face as well.

"Wonder where he is..." the captain muttered before walking out, the sandwich forgotten as his arm snapped back to himself again, "Zoro? Are you playing hide and seek?" Sanji trotted down the stairs again and to the deck, looking around as he went as if the swordsman would just magically appear right where he was looking. Luffy volunteered to go and search in the training room and Sanji decided he would go down below deck to Franky and Usopp's workshop, if perhaps the green haired idiot had gone down there for whatever reason.

The captain rocketed himself to the training room and poked his head in, looking around in there for the older man but pouted heavily when he found not a sign of him. Maybe... Zoro hadn't come back? Maybe that had been a dream? With the man not showing anything of his whereabouts, Luffy even began wondering if maybe something was really wrong here. Maybe _this _was a dream? The reality was Zoro was still asleep and so was he?

"He's not up here, Sanji!" Luffy called down to the deck as he twisted himself and hopped down, landing easily and allowing the shiver of the impact to go up and down his rubber legs for a moment before standing straight again. Shock absorbers: Luffy style. The blonde heard that yell loud and clear and frowned more as he hopped into the workshop and looked around. Everything seemed in perfect order down here and as he checked each one of the little mini docks of Sunny's cargo hold, the chef became increasingly agitated. Zoro really wasn't here. Where the hell was he? Surely he wouldn't be in the girl's room, Nami and Robin had come from there not to mention any of the men knew it was to face certain death to go in there without permission. The library, Zoro wouldn't go in there either. He wasn't in the training room either, nor down here.

That only left the cannon rooms and the storage areas. Why the hell would the idiot go there? Fidgeting a little nervously but never admitting it to himself, Sanji headed towards those rooms and hoped that he would find the bastard somewhere there. For heaven's sake he hoped he'd find the bastard there. It wasn't liked he _cared _or anything but the fact that Luffy was short one of the strongest crew members just wasn't going to fly by the chef. Deep down, he still wouldn't admit that he was genuinely worried that Zoro had never cut that ship, that he had never risen from the depths, he'd never seen that marimo hair at all at the Archipelago.

If that was true, he didn't know what he'd do.

It took another good ten minutes for Luffy and Sanji to go all over the ship, the other crewmates a little worried by the fact that Zoro wasn't anywhere but not willing to interfere with the two men's search operations. Finally, there was a loud crash nearby and then a familiar yell of 'What the _**FUCK**_, Marimo!' and the crew smiled at each other and relaxed, going back to their general morning chatterings about everything. Luffy bounced off towards the noise and poked his head into one of the store rooms to see Sanji practically fuming and a groaning Zoro rubbing at his head and neck and looking like he had no idea what in the world had just hit him.

"F-fuck, number seven..." the swordsman groaned, cracking his un-scarred eye to look at the blonde man in annoyance, "I was just sleepin'..."

"ZORO!" Luffy cried and rocketed into the room, knocking the man back onto the ground with a glomp and hug that could've possibly killed an average man.

"Get away from him, Luffy, I'm gonna murder him myself!" Sanji snarled, stomping over and stamping repeatedly on the green haired man's leg. Hard enough to cause feeling but not hard enough to break it or anything more than bruise it.

"Oi oi!" Zoro yelped at his treatment, shoving Luffy off him and then jerking his leg away from where the blonde was taking his anger out on it, "What the hell is going on with you two? I was just sleepin' here coz it was quiet and cooler than the deck or the cabins! It's like a fucking sauna everywhere else!" Of course, Zoro who had spent a lot of his time on that godforsaken island with Mihawk, had lived in a castle that just had no sunlight, heating or anything shedding upon it. The whole time it had been cool, calm and quiet in that place unless he was training or Mihawk was yelling at him. Or that damn Perona was giggling her stupid head off with that stupid laugh and those stupid ghost... _things_. He'd never forgive that woman. _**NEVER**_.

So back to the main track, he'd wanted the calm and quiet again, thinking the sun had just been a little too hot and the rooms a little too claustrophobic and stuffy. Not to mention what he had heard last night had gotten him into a serious thinking mode and therefore he had gone off somewhere as soon as the sun had started to rise, unable to sleep with those thoughts on his mind.

"Well you could've slept in a corner in the kitchen or something so we knew where the fuck you were, moron!" Sanji growled, his lip twitching more than a little menacingly, his moustache only increasing that appearance. Luffy blinked and looked at Sanji with a pout on his lips.

"You never let me sleep in there..." he muttered and the blonde raised a swirly, backwards eyebrow at the runt.

"Cause you always eat the food and you weren't the one near death two years ago!" Sanji snapped before he blinked and then his face tinged a slight pink from his outburst, "I mean..." Zoro regarded the blonde with a cool, calm demeanour as he got to his feet. His deep green eye fixed on the other's blue one the whole time until he was fully standing again. Luffy was looking between them, his calm and serious captain's attitude falling into place and his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Normally," Zoro began, "I'd be insulted..." Sanji frowned a little but didn't tear his gaze away from the other man's for anything. He'd said what he had and now he had to face whatever would come back at him.

"Uh-huh?" the blonde prompted when the swordsman just stood there, continuing to regard him silently with that cool gaze.

"... But I was near death when I left there. If it wasn't for Perona, I probably _would_be dead." Zoro's gaze drifted to Luffy who stared evenly back at him, "Doing what I did at Thriller Bark, I won't ever regret. Fighting as hard as I did before we were separated? I won't ever regret or forget that either. I had nothing more to give, and I'm sorry... for both of you. For having to shoulder a burden of Nakama alone like that. Especially you, Luffy. As a friend, I couldn't be there for you when you were going through such tough times." There was a deep sadness in the older man's tone as he spoke, making Sanji's anger die down very quickly and Luffy's eyes become shadowed by his hat.

"Zoro..." the blonde began but was cut off as the Captain held up a hand to silence him.

"He's not done. Let him finish."

"Thank you..." Zoro nodded slightly, "I failed you and everyone else by being as reckless as I was, but I don't regret it, as I said. Because if I did and do, then I won't be the strongest I can be now. I won't be able to stop myself looking over my shoulder, and hoping that nothing will come to get me so I can protect you all. I wouldn't want to either, because that's just plain insulting to anyone on this crew and myself." Sanji frowned to himself and watched the floor at the swordsman's feet. Why was he saying all of this? It made sense, sure, but Zoro had never been one to really blurt out his thoughts and feelings. He wasn't a man who wore his emotions on his sleeve like Luffy or Usopp or even Chopper.

"You heard us last night, ne?" Luffy said quietly and the swordsman nodded slowly, his lips drawn into a grim line.

"I'm sorry to have worried you so much but you shouldn't have." Zoro smiled a little before his smile turned into a full grin. A cheeky, rare, full grin that made the captain grin in return and even made Sanji quirk a smile.

"Baka..." the blonde muttered, tugging his box of cigs from his pocket and pulling one out, "So how did you get that scar, anyway? You blind in that eye now, Marimo?" Zoro blinked and raised a hand to his face, fingering the scar idly for a moment before snorting a little.

"Mihawk did that. I was being careless and cocky and he doesn't tolerate it so he gave me a solid reminder of why the fuck I should pay attention instead of trying to be a moron." Luffy stared at him as did Sanji before the two looked slowly at each other.

"You... were with Mihawk?" they asked in unison and Zoro raised a mild eyebrow before smirking widely and rather evilly.

"Of course... Kuma sent people where they most wanted to go, right? Wouldn't it make sense that I'd end up wherever that bastard was?"

"I got landed on an island full of Okama." Sanji frowned, a shudder running up and down his spine at the memories of it all, "I don't know how or why, but I did."

"I got landed on the Isle of women." Luffy noted, picking his nose idly as he hopped to sit on a stool, "And that snake princess lady kept wanting to marry me. I don't wanna get married."

"...You little rubber prick!" Sanji snarled, slamming a foot into the side of the brat's face and sending him into and through the wall, "I get okamas and you get an isle of freaking _women_! That's just not right!" Zoro raised an eyebrow at that before smiling a little and watching as the blonde stomped repeatedly on every part of the brat he could reach, looking like a mad grasshopper the whole time. Just like that, the angst had passed and it felt good and comfortable to be amongst these people again. Luffy began yelling at him that he'd missed them and was now quite obviously showing it whilst the swordsman blushed red and yelled that he hadn't and in conjunction with the chef, tried to throttle the little brat into oblivion. Damn... it was _good_ to be home.

xX*Time Skip Flashback*Xx

"_What are you doing, Swordsman?" Perona asked, hands on her hips and a ghost floating at her side as Zoro sat in a corner and hugged his knees to his chest, "Why do you look like some kind of whining baby?"  
_

"_Do you miss your crew?" the swordsman asked quite suddenly, frowning heavily and wincing slightly at the pain that action caused to go through his now blind eye, "Do you miss your friends? Moria?" Perona stared at him silently, before slowly her gaze fell and her eyes glazed over. _

"_... Yes..." she replied after a long time, "I miss... everyone. Everything. Moria-sama... I want to go back to him. Even Absolom..." Zoro nodded slightly and raised a hand to idly rub at his own eye, pretending it was dry and stinging and that's where the tear had come from. _

"_... I miss mine too." he nodded, hugging his knees a little tighter to his chest and feeling more lost than he ever had before, "I miss Luffy. That stupid curly browed chef. Everyone." Perona watched him silently for a while before she sniffled and then began rubbing at her eyes.  
_

"_I'm sorry, swordsman-san for insulting you... I miss my crew, too. I wanna go home. I don't want to be here any more. I don't like it, it's too lonely." she sobbed, the tears falling freely and Zoro felt his own anguish at his lost crew welling up in his own eyes as well. _

"_I don't want to go home, not yet, I'm not ready... but I wish I could see them. Tell them I'm not dead so they won't worry. Especially that stupid curly chef and Luffy, they'll be idiots and blame themselves because _I_couldn't move. Tell them I'm sorry that I couldn't protect them, help them and make sure Luffy's okay after everything that's happened." the swordsman almost sobbed before he bit the inside of his cheek to sober himself up again, annoyed for showing so much emotion in front of basically a complete stranger. Getting to his feet, Zoro rubbed at his non-bandaged eye and took a deep breath, pushing his pride back to the surface and his feelings down again. Reaching out a hand, he placed it on Perona's head and offered her the smallest smile. _

_"Forget about it, eh? We'll get out of here, I promise." his voice shook a little as he spoke and he cleared his throat before continuing, "You better go and get yourself cleaned up, eh? Mihawk'll be back soon." Perona bit her lip for a moment, sniffling and rubbing at her eyes a final time before nodding to the taller man.  
_

"_Ok..." she muttered, "Will I get to see Moria-sama ever again?" The question wasn't really directed at the swordsman, more to thin air so Zoro felt no need to respond to it and instead just gave her another soft pat on the head and headed down the hall towards the bathroom to clean himself up in the mirror. He paused and placed a hand on the wall before he reached it, frowning at the ground and feeling an overwhelming sadness hitting him like nothing ever had before. His crew. His friends. Those people he was so bonded to... at this point in time... they _all _felt the same way. _

_'I miss you, everyone.'_

**End**

_A/N: Doneskies! I enjoyed writing this and it didn't take me long to do, either, amazingly enough. I hardly get ANYTHING done these days so I'm quite proud of myself. Maybe I'm finally back on the track to writing again? (DOUBT IT) We'll see. Hope you liked, everyone!_


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